"Many years later I found that the same thing happened when I started work myself. People used to love to come by and chat and look at the boats taking shape and I didn't really mind because Perce had never turned me away.
"Things have probably changed now in many yards because labour is more expensive and some have even moved away from the waterfront."
Jock said there was a whole crowd of "nippers like him" who used to be fascinated by the Battery Point boatyards.
Jock's maternal grandfather, William Haigh, was the one who used to take him down to the waterfront and his earliest memory of a big boat was watching the Amelia J being built for Jones and Co. An uncle of his, Alf Haigh worked on her and he, as a small boy, was put on board for her launching in 1919.
Amelia J was built on and launched from what was then Kennedy's slip at Battery Point and is the present site of Muir Powercraft. It was the first launching he was ever involved with and just a few metres away from the scene, a year or so later, of the only time he was involved in a collision - he was a passenger on the river ferry Togo when she was involved in a collision with the Cartela and was forced ashore at Castray Esplanade.
He remembers the Amelia J lying alongside a pier on the Hobart waterfront while her masts were stepped and she was rigged.
"Things have probably changed now in many yards because labour is more expensive and some have even moved away from the waterfront."
Jock said there was a whole crowd of "nippers like him" who used to be fascinated by the Battery Point boatyards.
Jock's maternal grandfather, William Haigh, was the one who used to take him down to the waterfront and his earliest memory of a big boat was watching the Amelia J being built for Jones and Co. An uncle of his, Alf Haigh worked on her and he, as a small boy, was put on board for her launching in 1919.
Amelia J was built on and launched from what was then Kennedy's slip at Battery Point and is the present site of Muir Powercraft. It was the first launching he was ever involved with and just a few metres away from the scene, a year or so later, of the only time he was involved in a collision - he was a passenger on the river ferry Togo when she was involved in a collision with the Cartela and was forced ashore at Castray Esplanade.
He remembers the Amelia J lying alongside a pier on the Hobart waterfront while her masts were stepped and she was rigged.
Launching of the Amelia J, Kennedy's slip, Battery Point,1919. Kennedy's slip is the present site of Muir Powercraft, and the Amelia J was the first launching Jock was involved with.